Peru's Senate votes Wednesday on powers to rule by decree
A committee approved the bill on the last day of the deadline, but it is unclear whether the delegation covers 20 subjects or 27.
Peru's government could win the power to legislate by decree for 90 days on citizen security and the response to the El Niño weather phenomenon as soon as Wednesday. The full Senate meets at 10 a.m. Lima time and needs a majority of the senators present to approve it.
The Constitution Committee cleared the way on Monday, the day the procedural deadline ran out, with seven votes in favor, none against and no abstentions.
Peru has restored its two-chamber Congress, and with it Article 105 of the Constitution: if the second chamber does not report a bill in time, the lower house's text goes to President Keiko Fujimori for promulgation. That automatic route had never been used.
What is unclear is the size of the delegation. The lower house sent over 20 subjects, and the press disagrees on how many left the committee:
- Diario El Pueblo: approved all 20 as a block plus seven new items, for 27.
- Diario Correo: the outcome does not confirm the 27, because the committee still had to decide whether to include them.
- Infobae: treats the 20 items as approved and leaves the extra seven to the full Senate.
The dispute centers on those seven. According to Correo, one would treat criminal organizations as "hostile groups" and another would touch the National Intelligence Directorate. Diario El Pueblo adds a post-prison surveillance registry and a limit on the armed forces' role in prisons, which would be confined to outer security.
Popular Force, the president's party, leads both the Senate and the Constitution Committee, but four caucuses object to adding anything the lower house did not approve. Jorge Nieto, leader of the Good Government Party, said the rules bar the Senate from "adding new subjects." His proposal: approve the 20 and send the other seven through as bills in the lower house. Sen. Ruth Luque of Ahora Nación said a "disastrous precedent" had been set.
If the Senate approves the text, the executive branch will issue legislative decrees on security and El Niño for three months without going through Congress. With the seven subjects in, intelligence rules and the military's use in prisons would change too. Wednesday's vote will show whether the government gets the full package or only the 20.
